Classical Gas
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August 2002 - Part 2
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If You Go Down To The Woods One Day!
by Michael Leete
Michael Leete (in the blue) and Nel Bray (in the Red) pose with Alistair Bray before the off
Well if you did on the 19th July you could be sure of a very big surprise. Because taking part in a Mountain Bike Race were none other than Falcon’s Neil Bray and myself, Michael Leete. I have to confess it was all my idea. I started doing a bit of Mountain Biking in the summer when I realised that at my age I needed to take in a little exercise!
Normally I do cross country, twenty plus miles on tracks and bridleways, but the idea of something more competitive came when the local mountain bike club started to run events in the Forest Enterprise Wood at Rowney Warren near Chicksands. Neil’s son Chris is a keen Mountain Biker, taking part in the local championship, and Richard and I went to watch him at Milton Keynes last year. Neil was there as well and we hatched a plot to have a go ourselves one day. It came last week!
Rowney Warren is a big wood situated off the A600 between Shefford and Bedford. It’s pretty hilly in there, but there are a lot of tracks, many of them used by the logging operation. Unfortunately, some of them are a bit rough at the moment as there has been a lot of logging recently. The Mountain Bike Club use the woods for several different activities and there is a dual slalom sown-hill course, a free ride area for BMX and two way-marked trails for cross-country. The blue course is pretty easy, but the red is pretty fierce, with many steep hills to climb on the three-mile circuit. This was to be the basis of the race Neil and I took part in.
Like all the races in this series, it was on Friday night. I was going to ride there on my bike but Neil volunteered to take us and the bikes there in his van. Mike Hayward came along in support, together with Alistair. After parking up we signed on, got our numbers and waited for the start. There were about 60 riders taking part in classes based on gender and age. The seniors were to do four laps but us over 40 "veterans" only three. About five minutes before the off the riders all gathered around the start line. There was no organised "grid" but the idea seemed to be that the fast boys got themselves in the front of the pack. Neil and I made sure we were at the back!
After a short briefing, the organiser blew a whistle and we were off. The first 100 yards was level and reasonably wide, then it was 90 right and downhill. At the back Neil and I could hardly see with all the dust coming up from the wheels in front. We had to slow at the bottom, as there was a lot of bunching as the pack funnelled into a tight left hander and a steepish single-track hill. This stretched the field out and by the time we reached the top we could only see a couple of riders in front, the rest were well away and hidden by the trees. We survived the flat bit at the top then slithered down a very steep down hill, followed by an uphill that was so steep we had to get off and push, but so did the guy in front!
Another downhill followed and on the next uphill bit the guy in front got off and pushed again. Looking round Neil was just behind me "come on Neil we can ride up this and get by him". I just managed to squeeze by but Neil couldn’t and at the top, we became separated. We were back together when we came to the "bombhole". This looked really scary, a very steep descent on a sandy surface between the trees. I slid down, with the back brake locked on and just about managed to avoid going over the handlebars. Looking round Neil wasn’t so lucky. His front wheel hit a root, the bike stopped and Neil carried on, flying through the air like a human cannonball.
Neil was a bit shaken but bravely carried on and we climbed several gut-wrenching, unbelievably steep hills. We were out on own now, the rest were well ahead as we came to a very long, fast downhill sandy track. This was pretty scary as you could go as fast as you dared, but at least it gave us a bit of time to recover. Next came a short sharp ascent that would put Simms to shame. Then another very steep hill and we had to get off and push again. Neil stopped for a rest at the top and with his front wheel badly buckled he decided to call it a day. I carried on by myself, riding down a long single track section where you had to hop over a couple of fallen trees. There were two more steep ascents before I was back at the start for the second lap and to get a few cheers and shouts of encouragement.
Around a third of the way round the second lap, the leaders started to lap me. I had been a bit worried about this but they shouted out when they wanted to go by, saying the side they were going to pass, and I just slowed a little and pulled over. By now I was starting to suffer and my chest ached with the heavy breathing required to pull in all the oxygen. I tried to drink but I found this caused a cramping feeling in my stomach so I cruised for a while and tried to take on liquid in small sips. This was very important as I was dripping with sweat.
Discretion was the better part of valour at the bombhole, and with riders lapping me I got off and pushed down the steep part. I was feeling a bit better at the end of the second lap and put on a bit of speed to make a good show before settling back to the rhythm I had established was comfortable. The last lap was lonely so I rode at my own pace and even had the courage to ride down the bombhole. The end soon came but not before I had the only mechanical problem of the day when the chain came off when changing down for the last hill. This was soon back on and I crossed the line about an hour and twenty minutes after the start.
I was absolutely shattered but quite elated. It took about quarter of an hour to get my breath back enough to walk back to the van. Neil had already put his bike away and was nursing some bruised ribs. I think we were very adventurous to have a go at our age. It was certainly a tough course, much harder than the event we had seen at Milton Keynes. In a way, the downhills were worse than the climbs as you were so scared of falling off and some of them were pretty rough, making control difficult, especially for Neil with only one arm.
We both enjoyed ourselves, in a masochistic sort of way. It remains to be seen if we have another go!
